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THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 



OF 

NEW YORK. 



TRIBU T E 



TO THE MEvIORY OF 



HENRY WILSON, 

LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DECEMIiEll 9th, 3875. 



THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB 



NEW YORK. 



TRIBUTE 



TO THE MEMORY OP 



HEN RT WILSON 

LATE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DECEMBSM 9th 1875. 



ELLIOT O. OOWDIN. 



CLUB HOUSE, MADISON AVENUE, 

COR. EAST TWENTY-SIXTH STREET. 

1875. 



• L)&Cs 



61503 

■•j5 



TRIBUTE 



TO THE MEMORY OF 



HENRY WILSON, 

LATE VICE-PKESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



At the monthly meeting of the Union League Club 
of New- York, held December 9th, 1875, the Presi- 
dent, Joseph H. Choate, Esq., in the chair, after a 
few fitting remarks in reference to the death of Vice- 
President Wilson, called upon Mr. Cowdin^ an old 
and intimate friend of the deceased, to address the Club 
on the life and character of the departed 'statesman. 
Mr. Cowdin spoke as follows : 

Me. President and Gentlemen : 

I am not insensible of the delicate and honorable duty 
that has been assigned me, of expressing in your name 
the profound sorrow with which we received the an- 
nouncement of the decease of the Hon. Henry Wilson, 
Vice-President of the United States. 

It is peculiarly fitting that the Union League Club 
oe New- York, founded in the spirit of " Uncondi- 
tional Loyalty," should place on record its apprecia- 
tion of his eminent public services — of his life-long de- 



votion to the liberties of the people and the Union of the 
States. You will, nevertheless, not expect me to enter 
into a detail of so important and useful a career — inter- 
woven, as it is, with some of the most thrilling events 
in the history of our country for more than a quarter of 
a century. 

In many aspects Henry Wilson will stand before 
posterity as one of the most remarkable men of his 
times. Cradled in obscurity and poverty, and strug- 
gling till he reached mature manhood against the most 
depressing circumstances, he nevertheless advanced by 
steady steps to positions of exalted trusts, and finally 
reached the second place in the gift of the American 
people. It is rare, very rare, that we see a citizen rising 
so high from a station originally so low, and making so 
enduring a mark upon the institutions of his country, 
despite the blighting influence that surrounded his early 
years. 

I need not trace even the outlines of his career. The 
eulogiums from the press, the platform and the pulpit 
since his death have made them as familiar as household 
words. Inured to toil from childhood, he was a farm 
apprentice till he reached his majority, when he learned 
the trade of a shoemaker, and finally settled in Natick, 
in the State of Massachusetts, in 1838, at the age of 
twenty-seven. With the most meagre education he, 
nevertheless, early acquired a valuable stock of know- 
ledge by studying hundreds of books, in part by the 



light of pine knots in long winter evenings, and thus 
became a self-taught and well-read young man. 

In the famous Harrison-Van Btjren campaign of 
1840 lie won reputation in Massachusetts as a successful 
Whig speaker. His rise was then rapid. He was re- 
peatedly elected to each branch of the Legislature, and 
was a member of the Convention for revising the Consti- 
tution of Massachusetts. "With characteristic energy he 
bore an active share in the business of those several 
bodies. The Wilmot Proviso having been practically 
ignored by the Whig part}', he withdrew from its ranks 
and became one of the leading spirits in assembling the 
Buffalo Free Soil Convention in 1848, which, through 
the influence of Ex-Attorney-General Benjamin F. 
Butler, Salmon P. Chase, Sa^ford E. Church and 
Samuel J. Tilden, nominated Martin Van Buren 
for President, and Charles Francis Adams for Vice- 
President. He was equally efficient in organizing the 
famous coalition of 1851 between the Democrats, the 
Free Soil Whigs and the Abolitionists, which resulted 
in making George S. Boutwell, a Democrat, Gov- 
ernor ; Caleb Cushing, a Democrat, Judge of the Su- 
preme Court ; Nathaniel P. Banks, a Democrat, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives ; Mr. Wilson, 
himself a Free Soil Whig, President of the Senate ; and 
more than all, Charles Sumner, an Abolitionist, Sena- 
tor in Congress. It need hardly be added, that these 
five men subsequently became eminent in public affairs. 



6 

In 1855, Mr. Wilson was 'chosen the successor of 
Edward Everett in the Senate of the United States. 
He was now in the vigor of manhood, with powers 
ripened by experience in politics and enlarged by ac- 
quisitions in knowledge. During the fifteen years since 
he first came into public notice in Massachusetts, he had 
been remarkably successful. To what was this mainly 
due ? Henry Wilson was a man of the people. In 
these fifteen years he had probably addressed one-fourth 
of the adult population of the State ; and the rest knew 
him by reputation. While his eye was fixed aloft, his 
heart was with the laboring classes from whence he had 
sprung. It was this that made him the uncompromising 
enemy of slavery. "My sympathies," said he, on one 
occasion, "are with the toiling millions all over the 
globe." 

He was pre-eminently a man of action. His zealous 
spirit would not allow him to be idle. His energy bore 
down all obstacles. His industry was marvellous. 
Indeed, he was as restless as the wind, but never fitful 
or aimless. 

He visited Europe in the summer of 1871, not spend- 
ing his time chiefly in studying works of art and exam- 
ining the curiosities of the Old World, but in inquiring 
into the condition of the struggling poor, and contrasting 
it with the condition of the laboring class in his native 
land. On his return he bore enthusiastic testimony to 
the fact, that the ardent aspiration of the great mass of 



European laborers was to accumulate money enough to 
emigrate to the United States in order to improve their 
condition in life. 

He was, doubtless, ambitious. It was not, however, a 
vulgar desire to hold office and enjoy its emoluments, 
but an aspiration for place and power that he might 
benefit the people and be useful to the Commonwealth. 
To instincts thus keen, aspirations thus noble, and in- 
dustry thus indefatigable, he added quick perceptions. 
a tenacious memory, and high moral courage. It was 
these qualities, coupled with unflinching devotion to the 
cause of emancipation, which, in those stormy years, 
had taken fast hold of the heart of Massachusetts, that 
carried Mr. Wilson by rapid steps from a shoemaker's 
bench at Natick up to the chair in the National Capital 
previously filled by Adams, Otis, Webster, Choate 
and Everett. 

A large field now opened before the quick and observ- 
ant eye of Wilson. On entering the Senate he took his 
seat by the side of the scholarly, cultivated, brilliant 
Sumner. Though holding views in close accord on the 
great questions then convulsing the country, two men 
could hardly have stood more widely apart in respect to 
birth, family, training, education, their tastes and hab- 
its, the social circle wherein they moved, their modes of 
handling in the forum the important subjects which agi- 
tated the nation, and which were soon to plunge it into 
a terrible civil war. To the honor of both these remark- 



able men, it can be said, that each had unbounded con- 
fidence in the sagacity, the integrity, the unwavering 
fidelity to the cause of freedom of the other, and that 
during the eighteen years they represented Massachu- 
setts together, each left his colleague to pursue his own 
course without distrust, envy or molestation. 

When Mr. Wilson entered the Senate it contained a 
great amount of talent. Among the disciples of Cal- 
houn, and who afterward went into the Rebellion, there 
were Toombs, Slidell, Hunter, Butler, Mason and 
Benjamin. The Democrats who tried to travel in the 
ancient paths were Cass and Douglass. A few still 
called themselves Whigs, the most conspicuous of whom 
were Crittenden, Bell and Clayton. Of those in ac- 
cord with Mr. Wilson it might suffice to name Seward, 
Wade, Sumner, Fessenden and Trumbull. Here 
was an array of talent and experience that would have 
appalled a man of less heroic nerve than Wilson. 

Not accustomed in any body whereof he was a mem- 
ber to drop into the list of the inconsiderables, and in 
the Senate thrown into the shade by the shining gifts of 
his colleague, nevertheless Wilson's courage and energy 
impelled him to move rapidly towards the advanced 
line of the leaders ; and he soon began to take a promi- 
nent part in the business and debates of the Senate. 

The six years of his service previous to the com- 
mencement of the Civil War was one of the decisive 
periods in American history. It was the epoch of the 



9 

repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the delivery of the 
Deed Scott decision, the attempt to force Slavery upon 
Kansas at the point of bayonets, the ' effort to coerce 
President Buchanan into a compliance with all the 
demands of the Slavery propagandists and kindred 
measures, preparatory to carrying the South out of the 
Union. 

In the private councils of his own party, and in the 
public discussions in the Senate, and in speeches before 
the people, Mr. Wilson bore his full share. . But he 
encountered peculiar trials personal to himself. He had 
only got accustomed to his seat, when his colleague was 
stricken down by the bludgeon of Beooks. The course 
of Mr. Wilson on this occasion will never be forgotten. 
In the Senate, the next morning after the assault, he 
pronounced the act "brutal, murderous and cowardly." 
For this bold utterance, Brooks challenged him to 
fight a duel. Wilson immediately sent him the fol- 
lowing reply : 

" I characterized on the floor of the Senate the assault 
upon my colleague as ' brutal, murderous and cowardly.' 
I thought so then. I think so now. I have no qualifi- 
cation whatever to make in regard to those words. I 
have never entertained, in the Senate or elsewhere, the 
idea of personal responsibility in the sense of the duellist. 
I have always regarded duelling.as the relic of a barbarous 
civilization, which the law of the country has branded as 



10 

a crime. I religiously believe in the right of self- 
defence in its broadest sense. The law of my country and 
the matured conviction of my whole life alike forbid me 
to meet you for the purpose indicated in your letter." 

Having sent this answer, Mr. Wilson telegraphed to 
his wife, then at Natick : 

"Have declined to fight a duel. Shall do my duty 
and leave the result with God. If assailed, shall defend 
my life, if possible, at any cost. Be calm." 

It was noised all about Washington the next day, that 
an attack was to be made upon him by armed men. 
Writing hurriedly to friends in Massachusetts to pro- 
vide for his son, then only ten years of age, in the event 
of his assassination, Mr. Wilson, arming himself for 
defence, resolved to go straight onward where his 
accustomed duties called him ; and he did so. 

Many years afterwards an interesting fact was related 
to him by ex-Speaker Oer, of South Carolina, then just 
appointed Minister to Russia by President Grant. He 
stated, that on the evening after Wilson's reply to 
Brooks, a body of Southerners met to consider the 
proposition of a concerted attack upon Wilson of such 
a character as would effectually put an end to his 
career. The hot bloods among the conspirators were 
clamorous for vengeance. But through the strenuous 
exertions of Mr. Oer, the scheme was finally abandoned. 



11 

By his course on this occasion Mr. Wilson" struck a 
blow at the system of duelling from which it has never 
recovered ; and since that time no duel has been fought 
between public men at the National Capital. The bar- 
barous code was virtually repealed by the courageous 
hand of Henry Wilson. 

It would be superfluous to trace the career of Mr. 
Wilson in the Senate. Down to the Rebellion he was 
on the Military Committee, of which Jefferson D a^vis 
was then Chairman. Though occupying political posi- 
tions as wide apart as the poles, such were their kind 
personal relations, that when Davis resigned from the 
Senate to go into the Rebellion, he walked across the 
Chamber, and taking Mr. Wilson by the hand, cordially 
said, " Wilson, you and I have always been friends ; I 
hope we shall meet in calmer times." 

After the secession of the Southern Senators, Mr. 
Wilson became Chairman of the Military Committee, 
and held that important post all through the Civil War, 
and, indeed, until he left the chair he had held consecu- 
tively as a Senator for eighteen eventful years, to take 
his seat as Vice-President. Suffice it to say, that as 
Chairman of this Committee, it devolved largely upon 
him to shape and carry through the Senate those gigantic 
measures for the raising, equipment and marshalling of 
the immense armies we placed in the field. In the dis- 
charge of these high duties he had the confidence of the 



12 

President, the War Department and the Commanders of 
the forces. 

Secretary Cameron, just before his retirement from 
the War Department to accept the Mission to Russia, 
addressed a letter to Senator Wilson, in which he said : 

' ' No man, in my opinion, in the whole country, has 
done more to aid the War Department in preparing the 
mighty army now under arms, than yourself ; and be- 
fore leaving this city, I think it my duty to offer to you 
my sincere thanks as its late head." 

General Scott was equally emphatic in his praise. 
Referring to Senator Wilson's extraordinary labors at 
the extra session of Congress in 1861, that veteran sol- 
dier said : "He had done more work in that short ses- 
sion than all the Chairmen of the Military Committee 
had done for the last twenty years." 

It would be a work of supererogation to trace the ca- 
reer of Mr. Wilson since the close of the war ; for it 
is a familiar part of our national history. 

Unextinguishable devotion to his Anti-Slavery con- 
victions was the most marked trait in his political ca- 
reer. It was his guiding star, leading him into, out of, 
and through parties. 

It may be said to his honor, that he was never ashamed 
of his lowly origin ; nor that he was compelled to toil 



13 

for his daily bread. In the session of 1858, Senator 
Hammond, of South Carolina, while vindicating the sys- 
tem of slavery, stigmatized the laboring men of the 
North as " the mudsills of society," and "essentially 
slaves." Among others who replied to him, was Sena- 
tor Wilson, who said : 

* 

" Sir, I am the son of a hireling manual laborer, who, 
with the frost of seventy winters on his brow, ' lives by 
daily labor.' I, too, have ' lived by daily labor.' I, 
too, have been 'a hireling manual laborer.' Poverty 
cast its dark and chilling shadow over the home of my 
childhood, and want was sometimes there — an unbidden 
guest. At the age of ten years — to aid him who gave 
me being in keeping the gaunt spectre from the hearth 
of the mother that bore me — I left the home of my boy- 
hood, and went forth to earn my bread by daily labor." 

Not less honorable than this is the fact, that in these 
venal times, when many seize the opportunities of office 
to acquire wealth, Mr. Wilson, who held office thirty 
years, was always poor ; and perhaps I may be pardon- 
ed if I here state, that he remarked to me a few weeks 
before his death that he would gladly sell all his pro- 
perty for eight thousand dollars. Many of you, gentle- 
men, now present, will remember the remarks of Mr. 
Wilson at the dinner given to Mr. Chittenden in this 
hall by merchants of New- York in March last, when he 
said : 



14 

" To be a public man in our country means years of 
toil, sore trials and poverty. A public man should be 
independently rich or independently poor." 

With a robust frame and unaffected manners, his vir- 
tues were of the sturdiest kind. He was the very soul 
of frankness, and despised chicanery, duplicity and all 
crooked ways. Truth was at home upon his lips ; in a 
word, he gave force and significance to that familiar 
line, 

" An honest man is the noblest work of God." 

With a strong sense of right he never resorted to expe- 
dients and compromises to advance his personal inter- 
ests or attain great public ends. Though he possessed 
few of the minor graces of polished society, he was 
hearty, genial and kindly, and had a soul susceptible to 
the tenderest emotions. A little incident will illustrate 
this latter trait. 

During the past season Mr. Wilson was twice my 
guest at my summer home at Mount Kisco. On one of 
these occasions a child' s birth-day party occurred, and as 
the little folks skipped merrily about the lawn, his feel- 
ings were touched by the scene, and he observed to a 
gentleman standing near him : " I know of no joy in life 
greater than to be the father of a nice family of chil- 
dren," and his voice quivered as he spoke. 

That Mr. Wilson was alive to every tender affection 
of domestic life is shown by the little volume he had al- 



15 

ways with him, pasted iu the fly leaves of which were 
photographs of his departed wife and deceased soldier 
boy — the last of his family. 

With such a large and generous heart, it was natural 
that he should be forgiving in the hour of his country's 
triumph ; and, therefore, like his co-workers in the 
anti- slavery struggle — Geerit Smith, Hoe ace Greely 
and Ciiarles Sumner — his feelings softened towards 
those who had been engaged in the Rebellion as soon as 
they laid down their arms and the rights of the enslaved 
were made secure by the Constitution. Even as early as 
the summer of 1862, he said in the Senate : 

" After the conflict, when the din of battle has ceased, 
the humane, and kindly, and charitable feelings of the 
country and of the world will require us to deal gently 
with the masses of the people who were engaged in the 
Rebellion." 

The death of Vice-President Wilson has created a 
void in the public service which it will be difficult to fill. 
There have been abler statesmen, more eminent leaders ; 
but there has been scarcely one who was so thoroughly 
a man of the people, who led so useful a life, and who 
rose to stations so high and commanding, from a level so 
humble and obscure. 

The life of such a man is a wonderful encouragement to 
the rising generation, and especially to the poor young 
men of the country. It is a bright example, addressing 



16 

itself to them with peculiar force, bidding them to bear 
up against adverse fortunes, to aim high in their career, 
whatever it may be, and by every honorable means to 
press forward courageously, without faltering or devia- 
tion. 

In conclusion, Mr. Cowdin submitted the following 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved, That the Union League Club of New-York heard 
with profound emotion of the death of the Honorable Henry 
Wilson, Vice-President of the United States. 

Mr. Wilson was one of the remarkable men of the country, in 
an era distinguished for extraordinary men. Born in obscurity, 
reared in poverty, and cut off from obtaining, through ordinary 
channels, more than the merest rudiments of education, he, nev- 
ertheless, was able by self-culture, early to obtain much useful 
knowledge. 

Possessed of valuable gifts as a public speaker, and taking a 
deep interest in political affairs, breathing the warmest devotion 
to the cause of human freedom, he rapidly rose to positions of 
distinction in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with which 
his career was closely identified for a third of a century. 
Transferred from a seat in each branch of its Legislature to 
the chair of a Senator in Congress, just at the opening of one of 
the most eventful epochs in the history of the Republic, he there 
bore a leading part in that policy which resulted in. the. success- 
ful termination of our civil war, in the preservation of the union 
of the States, and in the final overthrow of negro slavery. 



17 



Hesolved, That the marked traits in the life and career of one 
who rose so high from a level to low, and ultimately achieved 
so much in spite of the adverse influences of his youth, were 
energy, industry, firmness, absolute honesty, high moral courage, 
practical good sense, enthusiastic devotion to the interests of the 
common people, uncompromising hostility to the institution of 
slavery, and an unfaltering patriotism in the hour of his country's 
trials. 

Though entertaining strong political convictions, he was always 
a manly and courteous opponent, and in his own party, as well 
as in the country at large, after the war was over, he was the 
tireless advocate of conciliation and peace. 

In the career of such a man, we have the ripe fruits of those 
popular principles planted by our fathers in the Declaration of 
Independence and the Federal Constitution. 

Hesolved, That these resolutions be entered on the records of 
the Club, and a copy, duly authenticated, sent to the friends of 
the deceased. 

The resolutions were seconded by Judge Chaeles A. 
Peabody, in a few appropriate remarks, and unanimous- 
ly adopted. 

On motion of Mr. Daniel F. Appleton, it was voted 
that the Eulogy and Resolutions be printed. 

Joseph H. Choate, 

President. 

GrEOKGE H. B. HlLL, 

Secretary. 



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